An axiom emerging from a study of history is that even a
large army, if hobbled by commanders of mediocre ability will often
prove to be no match for a disciplined smaller army blessed with a
brilliant and charismatic leader. Before the year 2007 the leaders of
our armed forces in Iraq, and the Secretary of Defense whose strategy
they were following, were not perhaps to be characterized first and
foremost as brilliant and charismatic. Those adjectives do, however,
leap to mind when we think of the present commander of our troops in
Iraq: four-star General David Petraeus, ably assisted by his deputy Ray
Odiemo. General
Petraeus literally wrote the book for the U.S. Army on counter-
insurgency and the tactics needed for its success. And with the
surge in military power provided by the addition of some thirty
thousand extra troops he has been able to show that these tactics are
succeeding. Were
we to cut and run now, just as the prospect of a stable and moderate
Iraq is passing from the world of fantasy to that of realistic
possibility, it would be a betrayal of the sacrifices that our troops
have already made and of the confidence placed in our long-term
reliability by those in Iraq who have dared to work openly with us.
The last thing on earth that we need today is a repeat performance of
the desperate final hours in Saigon with our panic-stricken
collaborators abandoned to their fate as our helicopters lifted off
from the roof of our embassy. Nor could al Qaeda
conjure up a more effective propaganda pitch for massive recruitment
throughout the whole Middle East than what would be afforded by our
precipitous withdrawal from Iraq either now or in the very near future.
In that part of the world, with America on the run, Osama bin Laden
would be perceived by almost every one there as "the sronger horse"
that he claims to be.
In the opinion of many the success that General Petraeus
has already achieved made him a candidate more suitable than Vladimir
Putin for Time magazine's
naming of its Man of the Year for 2007. A well deserved tribute to
General Petraeus was offered on January 10th by two of the U.S.
Senate's most intelligent and insuppressibly outspoken members,
Independent Democrat Joseph Lieberman and maverick Republican John
McCain, in an Op-Ed essay in The
Wall Street Journal May I share it with you here.

*
* *
* *

The Surge Worked
By: John McCain & Joe Lieberman

It was exactly one
year ago tonight [January 10, 2007] in a televised address to the
nation, that President George W. Bush announced his fateful decision to
change course in Iraq and to send five additional U. S. combat brigades
there as part of a new counterinsurgency strategy
under the command of a new general, David Petraeus. At the time of its
announcement, the so-called surge was met with deep skepticism by many
Americans-and understandably so. After years of
mismanagement of the war, many people had grave doubts about whether
success in Iraq was possible. In
Congress, opposition to the surge from antiwar members was swift and
severe. They insisted that Iraq was already "lost," and that there was
nothing left to do but accept our defeat and retreat.
In fact, they could not have been more wrong. And had we heeded their
calls for retreat, Iraq today would be a country in chaos: a failed
state in the heart of the Middle East, overrun by al Qaeda and Iran.
Instead, conditions in that country have been utterly transformed from
those of a year ago, as a consequence of the surge. Whereas, a year
ago, al Qaeda in Iraq was entrenched in Anbar province and Baghdad, now
the forces of Islamist extremism are facing their single greatest and
most humiliating defeat since the loss of Afghanistan in 2001. Thanks
to the surge the Sunni Arabs who once constituted the insurgency's core
of support in Iraq have been empowered to rise up against the suicide
bombers and fanatics in their midst- prompting Osama bin Laden to call
them "traitors." As al Qaeda has
been beaten back, violence across the country has dropped dramatically.
The number of car bombings, sectarian murders and suicide attacks has
been slashed. American casualties have also fallen sharply,
decreasing in each of the past four months. These gains are
thrilling but not yet permanent. Political progress has been
slow. And although al Qaeda and the other extremists in Iraq have been
dealt a critical blow, they will strike back at the Iraqi people and us
if we give
them the chance, as our
generals on the ground continue to warn us.

The question we face on the first anniversary of the surge
is no longer whether the president's decision a year ago was the right
one, or if the counterinsurgency strategy developed by Gen. Petraeus is
working. It is. The question now is
where we go from here to sustain the progress we have achieved- and in
particular, how soon can more of our troops come home, based on the
success of the surge.
Gen. Petraeus has already announced that five "surge"
brigades will be withdrawn by mid- July. The process is now underway.
The Pentagon has also announced that it is conducting a series of
internal reviews to examine whether and when additional troops can be
withdrawn- with Gen. Petraeus, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and U. S.
Central Command each asked to offer their own analysis. As the
president awaits these recommendations,
it is important for the rest of us to keep some realities in mind.First, it is unknown
whether the security gains we have achieved with the surge can be
sustained-and deepened-after we have drawn down to 15 brigades. Until we know with certainty that we can
keep al Qaeda on the run with 15 brigades, it would be a mistake to
commit ourselves preemptively to a drawdown below that number.
As the surge should have taught us by now, troop numbers matter in Iraq. We
should adjust those numbers based on conditions on the ground and the
recommendations of our commanders in Iraq-first and foremost Gen.
Petraeus, who above all others has proven that he knows how to steer
this war to a successful outcome. Every American should
feel a debt of gratitude to Gen. Petraeus and the great American troops
fighting under him for us. This gratitude is due not simply to
the extraordinary progress they have accomplished in Iraq, but to what
they have taught us about ourselves. If the mismanagement of
the Iraq war from 2003 to 2006 exposed our government's capacity for
incompetence, Gen. Petraeus' leadership this past year, and the conduct
of the troops under his command, have reminded us of our capacity for
the wisdom, the courage and the leadership that has always rallied our
nation to greatness.
As Americans, we have repeatedly done what others said was
impossible. Gen. Petraeus and his troops are doing that again in Iraq
today. The war for Iraq is not
over. The gains we have made can be lost. But thanks to the courage of
our troops, the skill and intellect of their battlefield commander, and
the steadfastness of our commander in chief, we have at last begun to
see the contours of what must remain our objective in this long, hard
and absolutely necessary war-victory.